


Entwined

by tothemovies (jarofactonbell)



Category: Naruto
Genre: But the aftermath, Gen, M/M, and the guy who can doesn't want to, cut sleeve story, ft everyone ganging up on tobirama and bullying him, is this not the hokage job description, nobody in the senju clan can rule properly, that's it that's the fic, this is just memes and tobirama suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 22:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18108197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jarofactonbell/pseuds/tothemovies
Summary: “I have a mind map of why aniki marrying Madara-san would benefit more than it inconveniences,” Itama ambushes him, as he does, on the scheduled Thursday where he would inevitably make his way across his troublesome cute youngest brother and suffer the full brunt of his wily persuasion.“No,” he says.“It even has a plan of implemented rules and prohibitions so that the Uchiha clan can settle in with our society and dump fairer workload onto aniki’s head,” and Itama is their brother, alright, he has that Senju tenacity.“No,” he says again, but weaker.





	Entwined

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fallowfield](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallowfield/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Interwoven](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17892290) by [Fallowfield](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallowfield/pseuds/Fallowfield). 



> dobe and i were talking about the emperor cutting sleeve legendary gay story and our collective brain cell went HASHIMADA so she went ahead and did all the job by writing the actual story and my take on it can be boiled down to 'but how would tobirama react' and this is how tobirama would react i accept criticism

People are painfully aware of…whatever the things that their stupid genius king Hashirama is doing with the quasi-rival warlord Uchiha Madara. It’s not exactly a secret - it’s  _the_ most well-known piece of information when one steps foot onto the Senju court - and the courtesans had long ceased their incessant chatter in regards of the exact degree of canoodling the king is committing in open knowledge of everyone else in the standing court. 

It’s not as if it’s a capital offence. He  _is_ the king. What are the people going to do to him? Nothing. They can’t. He makes the law - he  _is_ the law - and there are no laws that say he can’t…do  _whatever_ it is that he does with Madara. 

It’s not as if there’s anything immoral between them. They’re chess partners, brothers in arms, fellows from the same and different sides of a war. It’s honourable, this type of companionship, which only becomes more honourable as the degree of devotion increases. 

On a completely political viewpoint, it is encouraged that he continues this affiliation with the perpetually warmongering Uchiha clan head, to put a stop on the ongoing civil conflict that had been waging for centuries and centuries now. People are tired of being subjected to the daily sieges. The Uchiha clan aren’t all bad, but if they would just  _stop_ and take all the deep breaths in to use the available two brain cells that must be circulated somehow through all the members of that stabby clan, and  _think_. Think long and hard about  _Peace is economically and politically and emotionally and all the other good virtuous things ending with -ly beneficial to the clan, so how about we consider that?_

This had been a standing  _generational_ problem that induced the subsequent  _generational_ balding problem in many of the king’s counsel. All the people want the war to stop. Nobody truly hate the Uchiha for any valid reason except for the prime minister Sir Grumpy Grandfather Tobirama Senju, and even his hate is specifically targeted at Madara alone. His hate really boils down to some petty grudge from long ago or something or another. It’s not valid to everyone else. The Uchiha are nice human people who just happen to be very good at killing other human people. So are the Senju, but so far there had been only severe maiming that was the result of some moron attempting and failing to grope Touka and that had ended in absolute disaster. For the exiled man, anyways. Touka just carried on as usual.

Given all of the details, the people are fairly supportive of the king’s odd but endearing courting of the warlord general, which isn’t amounting to fruitlessness. No more random outbursts and declaration of war from the man who all is certain, had married the vice of Warfare himself, Uchiha Madara. He had started using his words - his  _words -_ and participated in inter-village negotiations. People celebrated with a lot of alcohol. They threw flower bouquets out into the street. They lit incense in thanks to the king. The fellow subjects and the king’s court fully support the inevitable union of the Senju and Uchiha clan heads. 

If only Tobirama, the sole lawmaker of this village, would listen to their pleas, and allow the union date  ~~wedding~~  to go through.

But Tobirama had been unmovable. Completely unconvinced. Cannot be reasoned with.

“Sensei,” one of his disciples, Koharu, tried once. “It’ll bring in a lot of benefits for the village.”

“I understand your concern, but my answer will remain no.”

“I think you’re just holding onto wrongful reasons to hate someone who hasn’t committed any wrong against you.”

“And I am only doing what is the best for the nation.”

“Your brother is a grown adult man, a monarch of a village. Surely he can be trusted to make his own decision,” she rolls her eyes, and leaves him be. 

Oh sure, leave Hashirama to make important decisions that can impact the future of an entire village. This is the same man who wanted to erect a statue to celebrate every inch Madara’s hair gains after each solar cycle and the same man who almost fell on his sword because he tripped on wooden tiles. He cannot be trusted to even walk around unsupervised. It’s a goddamn miracle that he can run a nation and cultivate blood red roses outside of all his time wooing Madara. 

Even the rose garden happens by sheer mistake on Hashirama’s end and everybody else in his extended family had to pitch in the effort of maintenance.  _Madara_ even had to tend to it, in which Hashirama is blissfully unaware of, because completing deeds for your beloved out of the altruism in your heart and liver and then  _not_ communicating that you were the culprit of those deeds being done, is apparently the trend for wooing nowadays. It’s apparently romantic, swoon-worthy, the most adorably beloved sight to craft elaborate letters over - who  _knows._

These lovers and their stunts. Tobirama is going bald and joining the ranks of Father’s old counselling minister in the Generational Balding Club.

And no, he doesn’t hate Madara outside of all the war crimes he committed and the body count he long exceeded in the royal archives. No, his hate is much much more realistic than  _being petty that this warmongering moron killed my great uncle twice removed when I was fourteen when everyone and their grandmother was in the middle of a civil war._  

Tobirama’s reason for hating Madara, to the surprise of the loyal citizens, was simultaneously understandable and also ridiculous. If Tobirama even  _tolerated_ whatever cahooting business that his brother and his wild-haired demon warlord lover craft out between them, it would give rise to Hashirama’s further slacking of work. He already does the bare minimum as the king, the monarch of this entire village comprising of a lot of people already, dependent on his protection and guidance. Approving of the wedding will just give rise to Hashirama completely relinquishing his position and then Tobirama would have to take up the throne because any other option is just as bad as Hashirama, or possibly even worse. He specifically denied his participation in the ongoing game of ‘No I don’t want the crown’, because he just wants to write literary articles and nag at the brats who swarm around him to leave his side and raise them properly. He has no interest in becoming king -

“You Grace, honourable Senju -” someone from Waves flags him down from his litany of curses targeted at both Hashirama and Madara. “The proposal of free trade between our borders -”

“Will not go through the land of fire if the details of transaction are beneficial only to your nation,” he rolls his eyes. “Try harder.”

This is exactly why he wanted none of the kingly duties, honour and glory be damned. Hashirama should be doing his job, not sneaking off to plant more flowers to gift his lover and shirking his duties. 

Speaking of  _squandering idiot kings,_ where is that stupid brother of his? Is he in the palace? Once Tobirama gets to him he will put so many godforsaken tangles in that stupid long mess of hair that Madara parades around in and shove Hashirama to choke in the brambles. 

There is another meeting after this. Where is  _he?_

_“Aniki!”_

There is a boom and a crash, and Hashirama stumbles out of his library, an event practically unheard of. Tobirama is fairly certain this one isn’t aware of what a book is, let alone to linger in places that are inherently places of habitation for books and learning.

“Aniki,” he says, in the same way someone would pronounce  _You worthless pile of human flesh I am going to throw you into the city’s canal._

“What did I do wrong?” Hashirama has the audacity to ask.

Tobirama feels all the blood inside of him reaching the boiling point inside a noodle soup pot.

“There was a meeting,” he grits, “that you missed. Where  _were_ you?”

Hashirama blinks big guileless eyes, wide and completely convincing to anyone who hasn’t put up with his bullshit for years and years and years and counting. He even chimes in, “ _Ototo_ , what meeting?”

“I’m sure you can fool anyone you wanted, including your Madara, but that ruse won’t work on me, to stop that blinking, fix up your hair, and come to the east wing. The agricultural minister wants to have a talk about the farmlands up north,” he stalks away.

He hears Hashirama haphazardly checking his kingly robes and heaves a sigh of relief, and really, the role of the annoying and cute younger brother is placed on Itama’s shoulder to bear, so he shouldn’t have any strings, ties or obligation to carry out his role, except -

_Except that he had to sit through five meetings now because the king was absent and he’s feeling especially stabby, so he’s substituting the stabbing with being a complete little asshole._

_“Aniki,”_ he half turns, “remember to get a different robe. Parading around in a cut sleeve won’t look too good on your reputation.”

And because this is Hashirama, someone who by all means shouldn’t have been able to grow up past the age of 4 because he’s such a dumbass down to his hair and he has no brain cell, this stupid brother of his full of nasty surprises, kicked life in the face with a roundhouse round and screamed  _I lived, sucker!_

\- it is this little rebellious streak in him that compels Hashirama to pompously declare -

“Oh this? I’m wearing it to court. See you at dinner, ototo.”

Tobirama is going to  _commit treason_.

 

“I have a mind map of why aniki marrying Madara-san would benefit more than it inconveniences,” Itama ambushes him, as he does, on the scheduled Thursday where he would inevitably make his way across his troublesome cute youngest brother and suffer the full brunt of his wily persuasion.

“No,” he says.

“It even has a plan of implemented rules and prohibitions so that the Uchiha clan can settle in with our society and dump fairer workload onto aniki’s head,” and Itama is their brother, alright, he has that Senju tenacity.

“No,” he says again, but weaker.

Itama grins, bright and shark-like, with all of his teeth gleaming and sharp and white. He’s considering it, it’s not terrible, it’s not life-ending, Itama is a ruthless strategist and can sweet talk Izuna into keeping Madara in line. It’s not a completely fruitless proposal -

Except -

Wait. Hang  _on._

Tobirama breaks away from Itama’s presentation of Worst Case Scenario. 

Oh dear  _gods no._

What if  _he_ gives in to the annoying bargaining that Kawarama and Itama and Touka and Kagami and Hashirama rained down onto his head - then  _Madara_ becomes  _King’s Regent,_ the true king to Hashirama’s slacking king figure.

Tobirama distinctly has a recollection of Madara delivering a speech to his clan to stop the war, at sixteen years of age. That ended rather against his favour, with a lot of fires raging across fields, Izuna and Itama bonding over how stupid Madara was. This idiot cannot be trusted to make negotiations that will sustain a village. They’ll die because of these two lovesick fools, within two weeks. 

“That’s stretching too far, nii-san,” Itama points out, and leans down to open his arms to embrace two menaces that Tobirama himself permitted to frolic around in the palace. He should’ve just banned them indefinitely and exile all children to the country of rice. Life would be more bearable that way.

“Hey sensei,” Torifu waves, shyly hiding behind Homura.

“Are you bursting more veins over the emperor?” Homura asks without any preamble, which is a lot of character development, seeing how he could barely make eye contact when Tobirama and he first ran into each other. Literally.

“I am not,” he righteously denies.

Homura and Torifu share a look that might as well scream  _Okay so he is, but what’s new?_

“We all know about the cut sleeve robe, yes, children of my brother,” Itama bends down to their kiddy ear level. “I daresay that the official union will not be long from now.”

“Don’t we have to wait for approval?” Homura points at Tobirama, dead between his eyes.

“Mitokado I am disowning you as a disciple -”

“Nah,” Itama, the one who should back him up, shrugs. “It’s coming. I can see it.”

“Please stop overreacting, sensei, it won’t be good for your blood pressure,” Torifu recommends.

“I am not overreacting,” he insists, like a liar. “I’m being realistic.”

Three pairs of eyes, the same exact look of  _uh huh, whatever keeps you awake at night, great minister-san_ echo back at him like a doomed nightmare destined to play inside his head for the next four moon cycles. He glares, hoping it is as withering as he intends, and Itama takes his brats away, waving a jaunty goodbye.

Tobirama is  _not_ overreacting.

 

He is  _not_ overreacting.

He repeats this as a mantra, as he treks across the pouring rain to duck under the sheltered corridor to wind back to the south wing, back through the linen supply closet, to change his soaked clothes.

There are the pitter patter of tiny brat footsteps under the pouring rain and he suppresses the absolute urge to  _scream._

“Sensei,” Kagami greets him under a wide umbrella, Hiruzen and Danzo huddling under its coverage. 

His answering grunt is at best interpreted as a curse word.

“You just don’t want to share your brother anymore than you already are,” Kagami then has the audacity, the lungs, to call him out -

“Hear hear,” Hiruzen chimes in, because he wants to taste the sweet sweet reverie of death’s cold fingers deep in his eye socket.

“You two,” he growls, “two hundred strokes of -”

“Oh wow would you look at that, isn’t that Izuna-san? I have to go!” Kagami waves and absconds from under the umbrella, taking Danzo along with him. Hiruzen remains, clutching the umbrella tightly with his spindly spiderweb fingers.

“Sensei, I don’t think there is much to pore over or regret for anyways, as we speak. Nothing has to change, sensei. Or if it has to, it is for the best.”

He slants an eye over at the brat. “You’re a hundred years too young to be telling me vaguely moral terms on how my life should be conducted.”

“You should be a brother before a politician to your brother, the king. I’m sure he hasn’t passed down any bill legalising whatever he wants because he is waiting for your approval. Shouldn’t happiness and peace be more important than coveted and pointlessly arbitrary protection?” 

Tobirama is not listening to a twelve-year-old lecturing him on how to carry out his personal duties as a person and as a lawmaking authority of this debilitating village.

“Plus,” Izuna’s voice chimes in. “Worst case scenario, we just accept that there will be an injustice incurred against his majesty in him being barred from ever uniting with his one and true love, despite multiple evidences of them consummating their devotion to each other long long ago. It would be such a shame, a public blemish upon the otherwise mostly decent Senju dynasty -”

“It’s not a dynasty yet. Aniki doesn’t have any children,” he immediately points out, missing all the points of that entire speech.

“That you know of,” Hiruzen helpfully provides.

“I’m fairly sure that is a situation applicable to many others but not the king himself. If it was possible, or permissible by nature itself, his highness would have my brother’s child. But alas, it is not so. So we don’t have to worry about dynasty by filial lineage yet. The issue at hand is that there are all the necessary preparations done to accommodate a union when it happens. The question is,” Izuna points a crooked finger dead between Tobirama’s eyes. “Are you playing nice?”

(He finds out later that Itama had orchestrated that entire thing and he isn’t too sure if that is admirable or just plain scary.

Scary. It’s definitely scary.)

 

 

“Aniki. Uchiha-san.”

“Madara is fine.”

“I’m not fine with it,” a pause, a painful pause. “I’m not fine with any of this, but my duty to you is first and foremost as your family, and I care and worry for you to the points of extremism, in which I disagree with all of this. But I am also a man of intellect and you don’t need intellect to see the sheer crime in intervening to prohibiting this union, therefore I will withdraw most complaints about the union and peace treaties between our two clans, and whatever next you choose to do, well, that is your business as a person and as king.”

“ _Tobirama!”_

_“Get off me, stupid brother! Oi, you, get him off! I don’t want to be tackled and die from a head injury!”  
_

“Kagami, are you recording all of this?”

“Yes, King Regent uncle sir.”

“Good boy. You can set the falcons onto Izuna today.”

**Author's Note:**

> my first hashimada work and they're not even discussed at lengths i am ashamed. deeply embarrassed of myself and my incompetence. please only refer to me as 'disastrous gremlin' only. and gas up the [original work](https://tacomakers-central.tumblr.com/post/183446751749/oh-no-were-stuck)
> 
> pLease find me on social media i am always and fully a weeb: [twitter](https://twitter.com/tacobell_com), [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/jenny_benny) and [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tacomakers-central)


End file.
